For anybody that loves chocolate, there is a museum for you in Germany that is for you. The Schokoladen Museum is an amazing chocolate museum located in Cologne. This is a unique experience and one that you won’t want to miss! I have never seen anything like this museum before.
A man by the name of Dr. Hans Imhoff supplied the money to build this unique place. Dr. Imhoff always dreamed of building a chocolate museum. Then finally in 1993 his dream became true, the Schokoladen Museum was built.
The museum is truly amazing! The museum is spread out on three different levels and each level takes you will be able to experience something cool and unique. The museum takes you into the past history of chocolate, the past 3,000 years to be exact. You are probably wondering how there can be enough info about chocolate to fill up a three story museum, but it is possible. I was a little skeptical too when I went there. I thought it would be boring but it turned out to be a blast.
As you walk into the museum the first thing that catches your eye is a beautiful chocolate fountain that is a gold tree. It stands 3 meters high and the chocolate pours out of the bottom. It is placed right in front of big windows that give you a beautiful view of the city. There was an employee standing in front of the fountain that dip small samples of waffles in the chocolate and were handing them out to the visitors. It was so good!
As your tour goes on you get to walk into the chocolate production area. This is where you can watch how the cacao bean is processed to make it into chocolate. They also make the chocolate into really cool statues like Santa Claus, cathedrals, horses, cows, and many other things. It is really cool.
Another area the tour takes you to is a room where the history of chocolate is explained. The area is called the treasure chamber. You get to learn about how they used chocolate in the past, specifically the Mayans and the Aztecs. It was really interesting to read the history on it.
In another area of the museum, you get to sit and watch a variety of commercials about chocolate. They went as far back as 1926 to the present time. It was funny to watch the older commercials. Then in the next room they had a lot of older and newer advertising for chocolate products. They also have a few older vending machines also. It was cool to see those also.
One of my favorite areas was the Tropics Hall. It was a tropic rainforest that was in a glass tube. The jungle was two levels high and you got to walk your way through plants, rocks, and other challenges a rainforest will have. There are also actual cacao trees in there that the museum depends on for supplies. It was absolutely gorgeous in this area.
Then at the end of the tour make sure that you visit the chocolate shop. You can find just about anything that you can think of in this store. I bought a lot of souvenirs here to take back home with me. You can also buy the really cool chocolate statues in the store. They make great gifts for people. They also have a cocoa shop where you can mix and match samples from white, dark, or plain chocolate. Ask them for a sample, they will gladly let you try one!
After the store you can head over to the Café. There are no walls in here. The walls are giant windows that give you an amazing view of the Rhine River and the beach area. You could also sit on the beach terrace outside and enjoy your meal. Here you can order cocoa, chocolate cake, sandwiches and many other items. We just had a cup of cocoa, because I was full of all the samples I ate throughout the tour.
Overall this was a unique and amazing experience. I am so glad that we took the tour. It cost about $9 and was one of my favorite things that we did on our trip. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturdays and it is a popular place. So if you get in the Cologne area in Germany, make sure that you check this awesome place out, and expect to gain a pound or two from all the samples!
